Emily Thornberry today accused the Tory Defence Secretary of talking “bollocks” after he claimed she wanted to renegotiate the sovereignty of the Falklands.
Appearing on The Andrew Marr Show this morning, the Shadow Foreign Secretary attacked Sir Michael Fallon for “slinging around dead cats” as he criticised Labour’s defence policies.
Thornberry said it was “not true” she wanted to see a negotiation with Argentina over the future of the Falkland Islands, and that Jeremy Corbyn did not have “open support” for the IRA.
The Islington South candidate tried to paint Sir Michael out as a hypocrite for attacking Corbyn for associating with IRA members, by pointing out the Defence Secretary attended a party in Syria celebrating the election of Bashar al-Assad in 2007.
Sir Michael responded: “There’s a huge moral difference between talking to other foreign leaders – I meet them all the time as defence secretary – and Jeremy Corbyn’s quite open support for the IRA.
Thornberry hit back: “This is not having ‘open support’ for the IRA.
“You really can’t just go around making this stuff up.
“There’s an election on and people need to make decisions on the basis of the truth.
“You’ve just said for example that I want to negotiate the future of the Falklands – that is bollocks. I did not say that and it’s not true.”
Earlier in the Marr show, Thornberry was grilled over Labour’s plan to have an “ethical foreign policy.”
When asked if this meant cancelling US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK, Thornberry replied: “No, because he’s been invited and I don’t think it’s right for us to disinvite him.”
She was also challenged over statements Corbyn made in 2011 that Nato was a “danger to world peace.”
Thornberry replied: “That’s a quote from six years ago and Jeremy has been on a journey, to coin a phrase.”
“There have been a number of discussions. It is quite clear that the predominance of opinion within the Labour is that we are committed to Nato.”
When pressed on whether she repudiated Corbyn’s comments, she said: “I’m not fighting with anybody, I’m telling you that the Labour Party’s position is a clear one.”
She added: “You’ll find that lots of politicians change their minds”.
On the Falklands, Thornberry said Labour would send a “taskforce” to take back the islands if they were invaded - as Margaret Thatcher did in 1982.
However, the UK should not be “gung-ho” and “You have to look at the alternatives first.”